Payments
      Back to home
      1. Knowledge Base Class Manager
      2. Payments

      Resolving Balance Issues: Identifying and Correcting Payment Errors in Class Manager

      This guide explains how to identify and resolve balance issues in Class Manager by correcting payment errors. Learn how to assign or unassign payments to invoices, handle unassigned payments, manage credit balances, and prevent future errors to keep

      Payment errors in Class Manager can occur for various reasons, such as unassigned payments, overpayments, or duplicate records. These errors often lead to incorrect customer balances, causing confusion and potential issues with billing. This guide will walk you through the steps to identify and resolve these payment-related issues, ensuring that your customer accounts are accurate and up to date.

      Step 1: Check the Customer’s Billing Information

      The first step in resolving balance discrepancies is to check the customer’s Billing tab to ensure everything is correctly set up. This helps identify if any invoices are missing or incorrectly recorded.

      How to check the customer’s billing details:

      1. Go to the customer’s account.
      2. Click on the Billing tab.
      3. Review the invoices listed to ensure they are accurate, including:
        • Outstanding amounts: Ensure all pending payments are accounted for.
        • Invoice dates: Verify that invoices reflect the correct dates and amounts.
        • Deleted or missing invoices: Make sure no invoices were accidentally removed or altered.

      If the billing details look correct but there’s still a balance discrepancy, the next step is to investigate the Payments section to ensure payments are properly assigned to invoices.

      Step 2: Investigate Payment Assignment Issues

      One of the most common reasons for balance discrepancies is unassigned payments. Payments should automatically be assigned to the relevant invoice, but sometimes due to changes (like invoice edits or deletions), payments may not be properly linked to the correct invoices.

      Why this happens:

      • Unassigned payments: If a payment is made but not assigned to an invoice, it will sit in the customer’s balance as "unallocated."
      • Deleted or edited invoices: If an invoice is edited or deleted, the payment may no longer be correctly assigned, leading to discrepancies.

      Running Payment Allocation Reports

      To get a clearer picture of the payment assignments and identify any discrepancies, you can use the Payment Allocation Reports.

      How to run the report:

      1. Go to Reports > Billing.
      2. Run either the Payment Allocation Report or Payment Allocation Detailed Report.
      3. These reports will show you which payments are assigned to invoices and highlight any unassigned payments that could be causing a "credit" to appear in the customer's account.

      Step 3: Assign or Unassign Payments

      Once you have identified any unassigned payments, you can assign them to the correct invoices to correct the balance.

      Unassigning Payments (If Necessary)

      If a payment was assigned incorrectly, you can unassign it by following these steps:

      1. Go to Billing > Payments.
      2. Locate and select the payment you need to unassign.
      3. Navigate to the Assignments tab.
      4. Click the Delete button to unassign the payment from the invoice.
        • This will not delete the payment but will remove the payment from the invoice.
        • After unassigning, the invoice will be updated to "Awaiting Payment" or "Part-Paid", depending on the amount remaining.

      Assigning Payments to the Correct Invoice

      After unassigning the payment, you can now assign it to the correct invoice:

      1. In the Payments section, find and select the payment.
      2. Navigate to the Assignments tab.
      3. Click the Add button to assign the payment to the correct invoice.
        • Select the correct invoice from the list, and the payment will be applied accordingly.

      Step 4: Handle Unusual Credit Balances

      If a customer’s account shows a credit balance but no overpayment or credit should exist, this could be due to unassigned payments or other errors. Here's how to resolve it:

      1. Generate an Invoice: If the customer has made a payment but no invoice exists for that payment, create an invoice to allocate the payment to. You can learn how to generate or create custom invoices here.
      2. Check for Unassigned Payments: Review the payment records and assign any unallocated payments to the correct invoice.
      3. Check for Overpayment: If a customer has overpaid, you can compare the payments received with the invoices generated. If there’s an overpayment, you can either issue a refund or leave the credit for future use.
      4. Resolve Duplicate Payments: If duplicate payments have been entered (often due to manual errors), delete the duplicate payment to correct the balance.

      Step 5: Prevent Future Payment Errors

      To avoid future balance issues, it’s important to implement a few best practices:

      1. Immediately assign payments: Ensure that all payments are immediately assigned to the relevant invoices as soon as they are recorded.
      2. Review customer billing and payment reports regularly: Use reports to spot any discrepancies early on.

      By following these steps, you can efficiently manage and resolve payment errors, keeping customer accounts accurate and preventing future issues.